The (gay) Lovers Card

My choices

When I decided to do a tarot card series of painting, I was definitely drawn to “The Lovers” card the strongest. This card had come up in a recent reading for me, and it occupied a lot of my brain space. Beyond that, the card has beautiful symbology and often comes with a positive message (please excuse my overgeneralization). While it is clearly a well constructed and thought out card, I had to make it my own so I went into research mode and figured out how I wanted to approach this painting.

Being gay, it made sense that I would want to make it relatable to me. If the couple on the original card were representations of Adam and Eve, then mine would feature Adam and Steve. I also wanted my couple to show unity and strength in their union, so they have their hands united across the canvass. What’s more, I didn’t want them meek, but rather impassioned, so the volcano in the background didn’t sit idle but was erupting in the background as a symbol of that passion. They are naked to show their openness toward each other. My couple also doesn’t feature any characteristics of dominance or submission, they are equals in all ways.

As for some of the other symbols, I drew a lot from the theme of temptation, often represented by the serpent. This is where I came across my deity over the two lovers; Lilith. She is often depicted as the serpent from Eden in the Jewish tradition and is a symbol of sexual liberation and feminism. Interestingly enough, she is also sometimes associated with homosexuality as she has a profound hatred for womanizing men. Her loathing for traditional gender roles is also why the couple stand on equal footing in this painting rather than playing off stereotypes. This all associated together too well for me to ignore, so she played a large role in my imagining of this scene.

The serpent in one man’s ear still represents temptation but is also an extension of Lilith. The red apple candle next to the other man’s ear symbolizes the passion of shared intellect and desire. The red candle is the color of the candle that is associated with Lilith and the apple is often associated with the tree of knowledge and forbidden temptation as well. This is a multi-meaning symbol that does a lot of heavy lifting.

Behind the lovers, we find the apple tree and the mulberry tree. The apple tree once again represents a forbidden temptation, but beyond that is associated with knowledge of good and evil and in the Greek tradition with vain beauty. Overall it is not an overly positive symbol to some. While I would like to say gay men aren’t easily associated with vanity, I am pretty sure the well-established stereotype is there for good reason. The mulberry tree on the other hand is the anchoring symbol for this couple representing all the positive traits that make a relationship strong. These include things like: Caring, Providing, Nurturing, Attraction, Exploring, Adventurousness, and Surviving.

I decided that all the titles for my tarot painting series would be in Latin so that no specific audience is targeted and to work in tandum with the roman numberals that are historically used to number the cards. This one is titled “The Lovers” which is written “Amatores” on the painting.

My Process

Writing the idea down

Canvas prep